Quieres selfie stick?

Ever since I started taking Spanish classes in the 8th grade I knew that going to Spain was on my bucket list. So, what better time to cross that off than now, when I'm only an hour and a half plane ride away?

This past weekend I was in Barcelona, in the Catalonia region of Spain. I got to Barcelona after a flight that had been delayed for 3 and a half hours. I walked out of the airport at 3:30 in the morning, desperate for a cab since I knew the metro doesn't run from 1AM-5AM. Luckily for me, there were hundreds of cabs ... and hundreds of people in line. I mixed in with the locals and other tourists and waited my turn in the queue for a cab. I got the best taxi driver. He didn't speak but a word or two of English, so this was great. It was my ultimate test in the middle of the night after a long flight. I wanted to see if I could hold my own in a real conversation with a native Catalonian. The taxi ride was 20 minutes from the airport to my hostel and Pablo became a quick friend of mine. We talked about my stay in Europe, how much I've studied Spanish, where he comes from, his trip to Los Angeles many years ago and Barcelona in general. We laughed, joked and learned a bit about eachother - solomente en Espanol. He complimented my Spanish, dropped me off and I was on my way. In the morning I woke up to my alarm... and promptly turned if off since I didn't remember even touching it. So - in the late morning I strolled around La Rambla, Barcelona's biggest tourist street lined with shops, vendors and stores.

What gave Barcelona it's flavour were the armies of street vendors selling counterfit Michael Kors and Louis Vitton on the side of the street on top of blankets. Others walked through the street yelling "queires selfie stick?" as they strolled around hawking their contraptions of narcissism. They were keen to sell their wares, they had a good sense of humour if you spoke Spanish with them and encouraged negotiation. I got most of what I bought for a third of the asking price. Barcelona is a very gothic city, with architecture and allies to match. My walk in the Gothic quarter was matched with more vendors, even more stores and lots of gelato.